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This is my entry to the weekly PowerHouseCreatives contest by 
Causes of Stress
Stress is natural and normal… until it causes you to sit in a corner, rocking rhythmically and sucking your thumb. That’s when you know that you probably let it get a teensy bit out of control.
All of us should watch for signs of stress. These include:
- Waking up in the middle of the night, hearing jungle drums, fearing that you will be flayed by the natives, and then realizing that it is just the sound of your heart.
- Eating pie and ice cream for breakfast, certain that everything bothering you will send you to the looney bin before the next legitimate time for dessert.
- Shrieking and jumping out of your skin when someone in your household walks up behind you and whispers “Hi.”
- Watching for the moment the clock strikes 5 o’clock, but getting impatient and pouring your first drink at 3 with the excuse that it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.
These are stressful times. The impact on society from COVID-19 is like nothing most of us have seen or experienced in our lifetimes. I would like to say that I have handled it gracefully. But like everyone, I’ve found myself dwelling on the notion that we may be heading for doomsday, or at least the end of all we know as “normal” today. A year ago at this time, my kids were out on ballfields and every night I was there shivering under a blanket and watching their games and eating yet another greasy ballpark hot dog. Good times. Now we’re all housebound, enjoying a home cooked meal together every night… warm and cozy... Oh wait, I lost my thread.
Anyway, I know I’m going a little cray-cray. I look outside and feel like I see coronavirus germs floating in the air. My neighbors walk by -- people I legitimately love and would likely give them the shirt off my back, if needed, but now they appear like cartoonish walking grenades. I’m kidding. But if you take this virus seriously, it’s easy to get paranoid to the point of being not only stressed but irrational.
It’s About Control
The worst of the stress hits most of us, I think, when there are too many things we can’t control. We can’t go out. Our job is at risk, or we got furloughed. We go to the store armored in personal protective gear only to find out that there are people who don’t look at all well, walking around like zombies in the apocalypse. We can only manage ourselves; we don’t have control over the people around us who may make completely different choices about whether to practice social distancing and stay home if they’re sick.
I knew it was all catching up to me the other day when my daughter and I got into a little fight about my stay-at-home lectures and I proceeded to cry for an hour like a spigot someone left turned on. I just couldn’t stop. I realized that there’s only so much I can do to protect my kids. I want to wrap them in bubble wrap and face masks and keep them from exchanging the same air with anyone. But it’s like trying to contain eels. They’re extremely slippery. “My friend and I are just going for a short drive. Don’t worry. She has been self-quarantined for days.”
What? That’s like saying “Don’t worry, I might not catch the plague.” Or “I probably will only catch the plague a little bit.” They are teenagers, and they don’t understand. I try to explain that it’s not just you that you’re putting at risk. I also don’t want you to go out and get infected and get us older people sick. My husband and I and everyone in both of our families qualify as high risk for one reason or another, and we could go down like a stack of dominoes.
Taking Charge of Stress
So here’s what I did. I took vitamins. (Vitamin D and Vitamin B complex are the most awesome stress reducing/mood boosting vitamins, in my experience.) I did some stretches. I went walking. I made tea. It’s not a very complex formula. For me, it works. I also stop checking the news every half an hour. Yeah, it seems like the stats and the dire predictions are updated that frequently right now. But it can wait. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we have got nothing left.
My advice is to do things that a) put you in control and b) are calming and help you to set aside your Disaster Brain. And do everything you can to stay well and keep those around you healthy without becoming a lunatic. Meditation is one of the absolute best things you can do. Just sit, relax, and focus one one thing - something simple like a word, or the flame of the candle. Think about only that thing for as long as you can. And really breathe.
Thanks for reading my post! I would love your comments if you have great ideas for how to handle stress.
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